good morning. i'm chris jansing. this hour, mitt romney is going to face a skeptical audience. he's been to address the nation's oldest civil rights group, the naacp. with polls showing more than 90% of african-americans support the president. romney may not exactly be looking to win black voters necessarily, but to show independent and swing voters a leader who would work for everyone. however, a newly aggressive democratic attack is trying to paint mitt romney as a super wealthy guy who is hiding something. >> do we want to move forward with an economy that's growing or do we want to continue to believe that ridiculous story that the bigger a rich guy's swiss bank account is the more jobs it creates in america. >> there's only two reasons to open a swiss bank account. one is to avoid paying taxes. the other is to hedge against the dollar. >> mitt romney needs to come clean and release multiple years of his tax returns so we can see

why he's invested in swiss bank accounts and accounts in the cayman islands. >> mitt romney responded in a radio interview last night. >> what he has done has been one attack after the other on items that deflect interest from a real debate of the issues that the nation faces. this most recent one suggesting that i would engage in something that is illegal, that is criminal, that i would hide assets or not pay fair taxes, not pay the taxes that are owed. it's unbelievable. >> i want to bring in jmsnbc political analyst. the romney campaign says the reason the president and his campaign are bringing this up is because barack obama doesn't want to talk about the economy, same reason they say he's bringing up the bush tax cuts again. does barack obama, karen, think there's some there there in not

releasing these tax returns or is he just trying to change the subject? >> i think the president has been clear in talking about the economy time and again and talking about his record. this is a pretty common refrain from anybody who is going against the challenger saying he doesn't want to talk about his record. when the truth is mitt romney doesn't seem to want to talk about what's in there. and here's the problem. it's not just the tax records. it's not just the swiss bank accounts or even the cayman islands accounts. the problem for romney is, a, his campaign continues to not have good answers to these kind of questions in the same way they didn't have very good answers about his record at bain when presented with an alternative set of facts. and so the problem becomes this idea that, what is he hiding? can you really trust mitt romney, particularly given that people already see him as somebody who switches positions on issues. so there's both the specifics of this particular matter in terms of what's in those in the tax records, why -- if there's nothing in there, then why not just release them? but then it also plays to a

larger narrative about whether or not this is someone who can really be trusted with your vote. >> but then romney went on to say that if it's about transparency, then why didn't the president exert executive privilege over the fast and furious documents? molly, is this the way to fight this or just do you release more tax returns? we know his dad did that. at one point his dad said, you don't release one tax return because if you do that, it isn't necessarily representative. >> yeah, i mean, romney has said that at least his tax return for the last year will eventually be released at some point. so we will have at least a partial answer to this question. but i think karen is exactly right. there's a narrative building here. also this continuing narrative we're seeing where everything with romney, everything with the democrats' attacks on romney is about money. whether it's his personal finances, whether it's his record at bain capital and painting him as sort of this heartless, greedy vulture capitalist or whatever you want to call it.

even his fund-raising and the fact he's so outpacing obama. and then draw a line between that and his policies and wanting to ease the tax breaks for the rich. so we have this whole thing coming together for the democrats where they are painting romney as just like -- as just the creature of the money culture. >> just to show how aggressive they are getting, we're hearing this from -- report from the hill. that members of the house and senate essentially got schooled on how to go out and attack romney. sort of a play, it seems to me, karen, from like the karl rove playbook where the philosophy is you take one topic. you get everybody on the same page and hit it over and over and over again. is that team obama strategy right now? >> that's just called good communication strategy. somebody earned their paycheck and is doing their job, frankly. but again, because this is an area where the romney campaign and governor romney has not been particularly forthcoming with answers. and here's the other problem in this matter. it's not a matter of, you know,

he's a greedy rich person. we would all love to have cayman island accounts and be weltsy. he is running to be president of the united states. he's talking about a whole model for our economy of trickle down that would benefit people like himself over the -- as we've already seen. and what did he do with that money? it looks like he sent that money offshore to these offshore accounts so that he could avoid paying his fair share of taxes. he may have paid right up to the legal limit, but he did so by, you know, taking that money offshore. and what do we know? we just saw stories yesterday about scranton, pennsylvania, where so -- like so many cities, their budgets, that because of lower tax revenues, they are having to pay their police officers and firefighters minimum wage. there's a whole cycle of what that kind of capitalism and what that kind of financial strategy for the wealthy has meant for the rest of us here in this country that i think is very relevant to this conversation. >> one of the attack dogs, traditional role for the vice president is joe biden. let me play a little clip of

what he had to say yesterday. >> he wants you to show your papers, but he won't show us his. it's kind of fascinating. >> a two-for there. he hits on immigration and tax returns at the same time. >> yeah, he was speaking to a conference of hispanics in las vegas and very clever line. very catchy. very good way of sort of bringing this together with something that resonates with hispanic voters. i think karen is exactly right. democrats have been very good at getting all on the same page with their talking points and driving a consistent message. of course, both parties do this. the romney campaign and the republicans send out talking points, too, but they haven't been able to push a consistent message quite as consistently over the course of this campaign. and so we are seeing romney. i hear from a lot of republicans they want him to find a way to punch back that is not just sort of i'm rubber, you're glue or i know you are, but what am i.

they want to hear him make a positive response to these things. and not be on the defensive quite so much. >> molly, karen, thanks to both of you. now let me bring in carlos gutierrez, former romney secretary. and marta. >> senator gutierrez, let me start with you and get your treeks what you heard vice president biden say. should mitt romney just release his tax returns? >> well, i'm sure the governor will do what he believes is right. and what he has always done. and he has contributed many, many taxes throughout his business career to the u.s. and i'm sure that he will do what he has always done, which is the right thing to do. >> why not release them? is there a good reason not to release them, you think? >> i think he is doing exactly what he believes is the right thing. which is what he's always done in his life. i just want to say one thing about the conversation that just took place. >> sure.

>> i came to this country as an immigrant. from cuba. and i just heard somebody say this kind of capitalism. it's the first time in my life that i have heard people in this country using capitalism as a wedge issue. that is frightening. it's alarming. it is something that is a new experience with this country because if you are attacking capitalism, then i suppose that we are supporting socialism. we are -- this election is about which way do we go? this is a very strategic direction. and this whole conversation is very alarming, frankly. >> the romney campaign says not only is there nothing hidden in his tax returns but they have gotten on the obama campaign and some of the surrogates for, in their opinion, turning capitalism into a dirty word. your reaction to that. >> well, i mean, i think that,

as an immigrant also like the secretary, a naturalized american, we have all come here because we believe in the american dream. i think that for the latina community, one of the things that we really welcome is having candidates of both parties come to speak to the largest gathering of latino leaders in the country. so we have president biden yesterday and you covered the line he had. but we also thought that there was a missed opportunity by candidate romney, governor romney, not being there to talk about his position and his specific plans for the country and how they affect this community. >> i understand that secretary gutierrez did offer to come and -- >> i was there. >> and was not able to speak, is that right? on behalf of mitt romney? >> i was there on saturday. and i couldn't get a speaking role. >> that's correct. the invitation -- >> they didn't give me a reason for that, but that's the

reality. >> and we appreciated. we worked with secretary guttierez in the past. we have a great deal of respect for his work, but this is a stage where candidates of both parties have been there before. george w. bush has attended our conference when he was a candidate. senator mccain and we really wanted to hear from candidate romney. >> we know there was a video that was sent out. and i tlnd was some disappointment. reporters who were there talked about the disappoint want that was felt. but let me ask you specifically about some policy issues here secretary gutierrez as a representative of the romney campaign. he's gone before the naacp at this hour, facing a group that has serious concernses about a particular policy stand that many latinos do as well. he has supported voter i.d. laws. does he need to address this so that minority voters who would be disproportionately affected and are disproportionately affected by these laws understand where he's coming from? >> we'll see if he addresses that's. i'm sure he will address a gamut of issues. and i tell you, you have to give

him credit for the guts and for the honor of going in front of a very important audience who voted overwhelmingly for president obama. clarissa, if i may say so and thank you for your comment. i have a great deal of respect for your organization, for you. you know what i -- what bothers me about the dialogue around hispanics is that when we talk to anglo-americans, let's say, it's all about, go ahead. make more money. get a better education. it's all about individual empowerment. this is the american dream. and it seems like when we talk to hispanics, it's all about you need the government. you can't do it on your own, you need to be dependent. >> is that a fair assessment? >> no, i would disagree. the interesting thing about the latino community is we have one of the higher labor force participations of any community. we are highly resilient and hard working.

>> i agree. >> the three-quarters of latinos here who are united states citizens, our challenge and our commitment as an organization is to make sure that more latinos, the way we participate in the labor force that we also particinate the political system. >> then would you like to hear mitt romney today before the naacp talk about his stand on voter i.d.? >> absolutely. the african-american and latino community have come together and are working on a civil rights agenda that includes voting rights, as well as immigrant rights because immigrant rights are also affecting civil rights of both communities. we're very interested on both of those. we believe that, again, three-quarters of latinos in this country are united states citizens and we are concerns about laws that at the time we're trying to close participation gaps, will have the impact of actually preventing eligible united states citizens from exercising their right to vote. >> clarissa martinez de castro,

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unions could be president obama's not so secret weapon to fight back against conserve ty superpacs money making machines. a new report shows organized labor spends about four times more on politics and lobbying than previous estimates showed. and the large chunk of that money is used for voter turnout and for persuading members to vote for the union endorsed candidate. i'm joined now by mary k. henry, president of seiu, the service

employees international. good to see you. >> good to see you. >> seiu was the top spender in 2005 to 2011 according to this analysis. $320 million. and all unions during that period, again, from this analysis, spend about $4 billion. the journal paints this at least in part as unions trying to hang on to political clout at a time of diminishing membership. is that what this is about? >> no, this is about unions trying to make sure that all working people can work hard for a living and have a shot at the american dream. we are trying to organize like never before to make sure that we participate in this election in numbers like never before because, as you know, chris, unions are being outspent 10 to 1 by corporations and the wealthy since citizens united. and before citizens united, we were outspend 3-1. >> and you also face some unprecedented challenges. last night the san bernardino

california council voted. they became the third california city in less than two weeks to declare bankruptcy. scranton, pennsylvania, 400 municipal workers had their pay slashed to minimum wage. $7.25 an hour. i want to play some reaction for you. >> i can go down the street and scoop ice cream that a high school kid for the summer is makinge ining $8.50 an hour doii have firefighters running into a building at 7.25 and police officers wrestling with criminals in the street. >> they are doing a great job. but i can't make it work if i don't have all the money. >> so what's your answer to cities, to mayors, to city administration who say we just don't have the money? >> well, i think what we're seeing across this country, chris, is 40 years of an economic policy that has put us in a position where not everybody is paying their fair share. the wealthy and corporations have been let off the hook.

so cities and states are starving. and we have to figure out how this election is about getting this country back on the right track in the way that president barack obama has been telling us, which is -- >> what could be the answer for a city like scranton, pennsylvania, that probably doesn't have a lot of millionaires. it's a very working class, blue collar city. they talked about raising property taxes i think more than 75%. obviously, for somebody who is struggling to make ends meet, that's not a workable plan. what can happen here? >> these solutions cannot be city by city, state by state. this is a national problem. we are facing the grossest income inequality in a generation. and the idea we're talking about political spending from '08 to 2012, the contrast should be from 1930 to 2012 because this inequality is being demonstrated in the stories that you just gave us, and we have to make this election about getting 25 million people back to work. making sure that we have a tax

policy that's fair. where corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share. so we can restore vital services in government like education, firefighting and health care and make sure that every immigrant has a pathway to citizenship. those are the four ways in which we have to come together as a nation and solve this inequality. >> let me ask you really quickly. you know what the response of supporters of mitt romney and mitt romney would say. the real inequality has been brought about by the policies of barack obama. an unemployment rate that is stuck. people aren't working. people can't hold on to their houses. that affects the tax base. what will -- >> and that's because of trickle down economics for the last 40 years that romney stands for that has not worked. if trickle down economics worked, chris, there would be full employment in this country. so that is an absurd lie that's being perpetrated on the american people and we're going to use every last breath in this election to make sure that people understand what's at stake. and i believe that we're going to turn out in numbers like

never before because working people want this country to be better for the next generation. >> mary kay henry from seiu, good to have you on the program. >> thank you. coming up, a sneak peek of governor mitt romney's comments before the naacp. he says his plan will help hundreds of millions of middle class americans. how? we'll take a look. hmm, it says here that cheerios helps lower cholesterol as part of a heart healthy diet. that's true. ...but you still have to go to the gym. ♪ the one and only, cheerios ...but you still have to go to the gym. you know, those farmers, those foragers, those fishermen.... for me, it's really about building this extraordinary community. american express is passionate about the same thing. they're one of those partners that i would really rely on

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>> meantime, the romney campaign is pushing a line of throw-back merchandise. the collection inspired by mitt romney's father's 1968 presidential run. buttons, campaign t-shirts, peddled in an e-mail sent out by tag romney. i'm daing to hear your opinions on this. this guy in chicago serving on a jury bolts in the middle of the trial for a business trip. he got called before the judge for sentencing of his own. what would be the appropriate punishment? the story is up on our facebook page at facebook.com/jansingco. to the american people. g [ female announcer ] when it comes to the future of medicare and social security, you've earned the right to know. ♪ ...so what does it mean for you and your family? [ female announcer ] you've earned the facts. ♪ washington may not like straight talk, but i do. [ female announcer ] and you've earned a say. get the facts and make your voice heard

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scene. flames could be seen more than ten miles away. fire officials report just two injuries. troubles in the skies overnight. passengers say they thought they were going to die when severe turbulence slammed an american airlines flight from aruba to miami. two flight attendants had to be taken to the hospital and several passengers were treated at the gate in miami. meantime, five people were taken to the hospital after a rome-pou rome-bound usairways flight had to be diverted. they were feeling sick from an odor on the plane. usair replaced the crew and the flight resumed. >> and tourists narrowly escaped injury. high winds kicked up suddenly forcing the pilot to make the rough but successful landing. the balloon bounced around a few times and was dragged about a quarter of a mile. everybody made it off safely. joe paternoo family says the

former penn state football coach never covered up for his former defensive coordinator jerry sandusky when he was accused of molesting boys. the report comes as the team brought to n to investigate it announced it will release its findings tomorrow. jerry sandusky was convicted last month and is awaiting to be sentences. mitt romney is expected to make a new pitch for african-american voters. he is going to address members of the naacp. they are holding their annual meeting in houston, texas. but it's going to be a tough sell. 95% of african-americans voted for president obama in 2008. let me bring in "new york times" columnist charles blow and joe watkins, a mitt romney surrogate and former aid to president george h.w. bush. gentlemen, good morning. >> good morning, chris. >> mitt romney is expected to stick to his economy script as part of his prepared remarks which were just released before the speech. he said, if equal opportunity in

america were an accomplished fact, then a chronically bad economy would be equally bad for everyone. instead, it's worse for african-americans in almost every way. the african-american jobless rate, 14.4%. does he have a winning message here, charles? >> well, how you define winning in this case. >> could he win over some african-american voters who have been largely, obviously, voting for barack obama? >> well, african-americans have been largely voting for democrats. since '80, '84, the republicans have not won -- >> but it's gone up to like 10% 11%. >> 10%, 11%. you haven't topped 12%. >> when you have a dead even race could that make a difference? >> you have a top 12% in more than two decades. almost three decades with african-americans. they basically are democratic voters so you do have some identity politics that does play

a role. so you may get a little bit of a shift, maybe 8 percentage points, 10 percentage points, maybe towards barack obama for identity politics. but in general, african-americans are just democratic voters. what mitt romney, the best case scenario is that mitt romney dampens enthusiasm for barack obama. >> it won't be mitt romney dampening the enthusiasm. it won't be mitt romney dampening the enthusiasm. i think mitt romney is smart to be at the naacp convention becausely knows it's important to talk to all americans no matter what they may look like. he's snamart to be there and she his message. you have 14.4% unemployment in the african-american community, and for people who aren't working, no matter what color they are, this is a very tough time. so -- >> but is he there because he thinks he can win over

african-american vote errs or trying to send a message to independent voters that i'm willing to go in front of the naacp even though i know it's not exactly my most friendly audience? >> i think it sends a very good, strong message to everybody that mitt romney will talk to all americans whether he thinks they'll vote for him or not. and for him to be at the naacp convention sends a strong message to independents and swing voters and african-americans that if elected president, he's going to be talking to everybody. it's great for him to be there. and he's talking to the issues, not to the color of people but to the issues. he's talking to people who are suffering from unemployment. he's talking to people who have chronically poor education. and he's saying, here's how i'll fix it. if you elect me president, i'll fix it. >> i have to say, we haven't seen the whole speech but they sent out excerpts. >> i've seen them. >> you've seen the excerpts. it's short on details here. it brushes over education. it brushes over some of these issues you talk about. but he certainly doesn't give any specifics about how he's going to have a very different

policy. does he, joe? did i miss something? >> no, no, i'm right here. and, no, you haven't missed anything. he doesn't have a lot of time to give a speech. he has enough time to brush on what the main issues are and to talk about how he intends to do it. he's talked about the importance of school choice. i'll make sure every kid whether they are low income, middle income or upper physical that the parents have the same choices as parents everywhere. to send their kids to the best possible school. that's a good thing for parents to hear. >> he has called education the civil rights issue of our time. >> right, but just kind of whitewashing a whole lot of the issues here with the republican party and particularly with mitt romney. when you have a republican party that basically is saying the government is the problem at a time when you do have high unemployment, among anybody, first of all, unemployment among african-americans always higher than it is among whites, even in

the best of times. but then you start to attack government. african-americans are disproportion atly represented by government jobs. that's a historical fact. that goes back to the time when the only good job that an african-american could get, a professional job, was a government job. part of that was due to discrimination. so you have -- you kind of go on the attack about, you know, there are too many teachers. and these are -- too many teachers, too many whatever. that message -- >> not too many teachers. >> yes, he said that. yes, he said that, joe. >> no, no, not too many teachers. what he's worried about are teachers who don't perform. he wants more -- >> that is not what he said. >> he said barack obama did not -- >> excuse me when i'm talking. barack obama did not get the message of wisconsin. and he specifically pointed out teachers because he more broadly pointed out government workers. that means that is a direct --

going directly at part of the population -- the working block that is disproportionately higher in african-americans. >> i've been a government worker -- i've had people in my family who have been and are government workers. they do a good job on the work they do. for most republicans, the big challenge is the spread of government, the growth of government. and the lack of attention to the private sector which creates the jobs. >> well, joe, can i also ask you because -- i'm going to be forthright up here because a lot of supporters of the president have been sending out statistics about the governor's own record in terms of hiring people for public positions. i want to read for you and this comes from a study from umass boston. 163 top level positions during the romney administration in massachusetts, fewer than 11% were held by minorities. latino appointments made up 1.8% of the total number, even though they are 7% of the state's

population. so how does he win over communities where there is this suggestion that they were not represented, not only in government but there were no blacks at bain when he was there. >> you have to consider the fact that mitt romney won the governorship of a state that has only 11% republicans registered. 11% of republican registration. a whole lot of democrats liked what he had to say and thought he was somebody that could lead that state well as he did. i think that the challenge for americans is to see mitt romney for who he is. somebody who will put americans back to work. if you look at past numbers, when he was governor of massachusetts, he hired a number of minority folks. i think the minority numbers are probably in line with the general population statistics for the state with regards to minorities. but going forward, he's got minorities involved in every level of his campaign, including at the highest levels. he's reached out to people of

all colors and backgrounds to be surrogates for them, including me, which i think is a good thing. i think as president, he'll include everybody. >> if you guys can stand by, we're waiting for mitt romney. he's rang littunning a little l. we'll have this coming up for you. charles blow, joe watkins, stick around. we'll have mitt romney's speech coming up shortly. in the meantime, we could be in for some pain at the supermarket. mandy drury is here with what's moving your money. how much more can we expect to pay? >> possibly 2% to 3% more. really just depends because at this stage, it's anybody's guess what is going to happen with the drought, how long it lasts and how bad it gets. we do know this morning that the department of agriculture has cut its corn production forecast saying that farmers are expected to harvest about 12% less in terms of yields than from their estimate just a month ago. now the drought is really tearing through crops in portions of illinois and indiana in particular. it's reduced yields in other

states as well. of course, lower supply, no brain science here. it means higher prices. higher food costs for us. so in terms of the supermarket, we're all going to see it and feel it. >> mandy drury, thanks so much. again, big, big gathering of the naacp. the oldest civil rights organization in the country. we will have mitt romney speaking before the naacp coming up. i'm sorry, what? after this. will expire this year, sending taxes through the roof and hindering economic recovery. the consequences? millions of americans will see their taxes on dividend income spike, slowing investment in u.s. companies and jeopardizing development in energy projects that create american jobs. ask congress to stop a dividend tax hike -- for all of us. of single mile credit cards. battle speech right? may i? [ horse neighs ]

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fast-acting energy. and we are back waiting for mitt romney to speak before the naacp. charles blow is here. joe watkins. you have had a chance, charles, to look at excerpts from the speech. and there is an argument that we expected to hear, frankly. and i understand that you say that historically african-american unemployment has been higher than -- for the rest of the population. but if it's your husband who doesn't have a job or you don't have a job or your teenager can't find a summer job or your college graduate can't find a job, does it matter what history tells us? you still can't find a job and unemployment is still 14.4%. >> what you have to see is whether or not that has had an effect on how african-americans have voted and whether or not they've crossed over from democrat to republican, particularly in this recent history. and there is not a lot of evidence to suggest that that is true. >> charles is right. charles is right. >> excuse me. even if those worst of times, you -- they are still sticking

closer to the democratic party. and that is because there's institutionally, they see the republican party as hostile to the black identity, black cause, black community. and that is the problem that the republicans have to deal with. and no one since reagan really has really made a full throated attempt to go after the black vote. the last time -- i think that's probably the last time the word african-american appears in the party platform if i'm not mistake ben that. not since then. and since then you had real people going after hispanic votes in a very big way like george bush but not the african-american vote. >> george bush went after it in 2004 he did. he went after it pretty hard. he got 11% which was a good number. the second best since reagan. not 12% in the early 1980s. mitt romney has taken to the stage. let's listen to him addressing the naacp convention.

♪ >> i do love that music. i have to tell you. i do love listening to that organ music and the piano. and during the prayer hearing "sweet hour of prayer" being played. good morning members of the naacp. and thank you to bishop grays for his introduction and also to president ben jealous and chairman rossland brock for the opportunity to be here this morning. and for your hospitality. this is an honor to address you and one i had not expected and one i value very highly. i appreciate the chance to speak first, even before vice president will -- vice president biden will get his turn tomorrow. i just hope the obama campaign doesn't think you are playing favorites. now you know we've been having

some trouble with that shot. can we bring in james clyburn who is standing by at the capitol? we don't have him. oh, we go back. >> we don't count anybody out and we sure don't make a habit of presuming anyone's support. support is asked for and earned. and that's why i'm here today. now with 90% of african-americans who typically vote for democrats, you may wonder, or some may wonder why a republican would bother to campaign in the african-american community and address the naacp. one reason, of course is that i hope to represent all americans of every race, creed and sexual orientation. from the poorest to the richest and everyone in between. but there's another reason. i believe that if you understood who i truly am in my heart, and if it were possible to fully

communicate what i believe is in the real enduring best interest of american african-american families, you would vote for me for president. now i want you to know that if i did not believe that my policies and my leadership would help families of color and families of any color, more than the policies and leadership of president obama, i wouldn't be running for president. now of course the opposition charges that i and people in my party are running for office to help the rich. nonsense. the rich will do just fine whether i'm elected or not. the president wants to make this campaign about blaming the rich and i want to make this a campaign about helping the middle class in america. i'm running for president because i know that my policies and vision will help millions of middle class americans of all races, will lift people from

poverty and will help prevent people from becoming poor in the first place. my campaign is about helping the people who need help. of course, the president has said it won't do that. my course will. when president obama called to congratulate me on becoming the presumptive republican nominee, a gracious call, he said that, quote, he looked forward to an important and healthy debate about america's future. to date i'm afraid his campaign has taken a different course on that. but in campaigns at their best, voters can expect a clear choice and candidates can expect a fair hearing. only more so from a venerable organization like this one. so it's that healthy debate about the course of the nation that i want to discuss with you today. now someone had told us in the 1950s or 1960s that a black

citizen would serve as the 44th president of the united states, we would have been proud and many would have been surprised. picturing that day we might have assumed that the american presidency would be the very last door of opportunity to be opened. before that came to pass, every other barrier in the path to equal opportunity would surely have had to have come down. it hasn't quite happened that way. many barriers remain. old inequities persist. in some ways the challenges are even more complicated than before. and across america, and even within your own ranks, there are serious, honest debates about the way forward. if equal opportunity in america were an accomplished fact, then a chronically bad economy would be equally bad for everyone. instead, it's worse for african-americans in almost every way. the unemployment rate, the duration of unemployment,

average income, median family wealth are all worse in the black community. in june, while the overall unemployment rate remains stuck at 8.2%, the unemployment rate for african-americans actually went up from 13.6% to 14.4%. americans of every background are asking when this economy will finally recover. and you in particular are entitled to an answer. if equal opportunity -- [ applause ] if equal opportunity in america were an accomplished fact, black families could send their sons and daughters to public schools that truly are for the hope of a better life. instead for generations, the african-american community has been waiting and waiting for that promise to be kept. today, black children are 17% of students nationwide, but they are 42% of the students in our

worst performing schools. our society sends them into mediocre schools and then expects them to perform with excellence. and that's simply not fair. frederick douglass observed, and i quote, it's easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. and yet instead of preparing these children for life, too many schools set them up for failure. everyone in this room knows that we owe them better than that. the path of inequality often leads to lost opportunity. college and graduate school and first jobs should be the milestones marking the passage from childhood to adulthood. but for too many disadvantaged young people, these goals seem unattainable. and their lives take a tragic turn. many live in neighborhoods filled with violence and fears

and empty of opportunity. their impatience for change is understandable. they are entitled to feel that life in america should be better than this. they're told even now to wait for improvements in our economy. and in our schools. but it seems to me that these americans have waited long enough. the point is that when decades of the same promises keep producing the same failures, that it's reasonable to rethink our approach and consider a new plan. i'm hopeful that together we can set a new direction in federal policy. starting where many of our problems do start, with the family. a study by the brookings institution has shown that for those who graduate from high school, get a full-time job and wait until 21 before they marry and then have their first child, the probability of becoming poor

is 2%. and if those factors are absent, the probability of being poor is 76%. here at the naacp, you understand the deep and lasting difference that family makes. your former executive director dr. benjamin hooks had it exactly right. the family, he said, quote, remains the bullwart and the mainstay of the black community. that great truth must not be overlooked, end of quote. any policy that lifts up and honors the family is going to be good for the country and that must be our goal. as president, i will promote strong families, and i will defend traditional marriage. now as you may have heard from my opponent, i am also a believer in the free enterprise system. i believe it can bring change where so many well-meaning

government programs have failed. i have never heard anyone look around at an impoverished neighborhood and say, there's just too much free enterprise around here. too many shops. too many jobs. too many people putting money in the bank. what you hear, of course, is how do we bring in jobs? how do we make good, honest employers want to move in, stay in and with the shape the economy is in today, we're asking that question more and more. free enterprise. free enterprise is still the greatest force for upward mobility, economic security and the expansion of the middle class. we have seen in recent years what it's like to have less free enterprise. as president, i'll show the good things that can happen when we had more free enterprise, more business activity, more jobs, more opportunity, more paychecks. more savings accounts. on day one, i'll begin turning this economy around with a plan for the middle class.

and i don't just mean for those who are middle class now. i also mean for those who have waited so long for their chance to join the middle class. and by the way, i know what it makes to put people to work. to bring more jobs and better wages. my plan is based on 25 years of success in business. it's a job recovery plan. it has five key steps. first, i am going to take full advantage of our energy resources. and i'll approve the keystone pipeline from canada. low cost, plentiful coal, natural gas, oil and renewables will bring over a million manufacturing jobs back to the united states. second, i want to open up new markets for american goods. we're the most productive major

economy in the world so trade means good jobs for americans. but trade has to be fair and free. so i'll clamp down on cheaters like china and make sure they finally play by the rules and don't steal our jobs. third, i'm going to reduce government spending. i hope everyone understands that high levels of debt slow down the rate of growth of the gdp, of the economy. and that means fewer jobs are created. if our goal is jobs, we have to stop spending over a trillion dollars more than we take in every year. and so to do that, i'm going to eliminate every nonessential expensive program i can find. that includes obama care and i'm going to work to reform and save --

you know, there was a survey -- there was a survey of the chamber of commerce. they carried out a survey of their members about 1500 surveyed. and they asked them what effect that obama care would have on their plans. and three-quarters of them said it made them less likely to hire people. so i say again if our priority is jobs, and that's my priority, that's something i'd change. and i'd replace with something that provides to people something they need in health care which is lower cost, good quality, a capacity to deal with people who have pre-existing conditions and i'll put that in place. and i'll also work to reform and save medicare and social security. people keep talking about the fact that those programs are on the pathway to insolvency. and yet nothing gets done to fix

them. i will fix them. and make sure they are permanent and security for our seniors today and for seniors tomorrow. and i'll do that in part by means testing the ben mitts. meaning higher benefits for lower income folks and lower benefits for higher income folks. fourth, i am going to focus on nurturing and developing the skilled workers that our economy so desperately needs today and the future demands. this is the human capital with which tomorrow's bright future can be built. and by the way, too many homes and too many schools are failing to provide our children with the skills and education that are essential for anything other than a minimum wage job. and finally and perhaps most importantly, i'll restore economic freedom. this nation's economy runs on freedom. on opportunity. on entrepreneurs.

on dreamers who innovate and build businesses. these entrepreneurs are being crushed by high taxation, unnecessary burdens and regulation. hostile regulators. excessive health care costs and destructive labor policies. i will go to work to make america the best place in the world for innovators, for entrepreneurs and for businesses large and small. do these five things. open up energy. expand trade. cut the growth of government. focus on better educating tomorrow's workers today and restore economic freedom and jobs will come back to america and wages will rise again. we have got to do it. and i know the president will say he's going to do those things, but he has not. he will not. he cannot. and his last four years in the white house prove it